Of all Maimonides' works, The Guide to the Perplexed is the most controversial. Labeled as heretical and even burned, it remained the definitive book on Jewish philosophy for six centuries. Rabbi Wein examines the theological issues this great work raised, including its unrelenting position on free will, and shows why it aroused so furious a reaction.

• Maimonides' friends and foes
• "the golden mean" of character development
• free will versus determinism
• the question of miracles and the Messianic era
• book burnings and their terrible fall-out
• the legends surrounding the Maimonides' death and burial

For more on the life and works of Maimonides, please see our series "The Life of the Rambam."

And to introduce your kids to his staggering accomplishments, please check out our animated DVD, "Rambam: The Story of Maimonides."